Healthy revenue begins and ends with a predictable sales pipeline. But how do you actually build that pipeline?

Fortunately, technology affords businesses several highly effective options for prospecting clients and generating qualified leads. Here are a few tried and true techniques:

 

Optimize your website for search engines

Search engine optimization is a powerful and cost-effective means of driving traffic to your website. Armed with a basic understanding of SEO best practices, you’ll be able to position your website to be found organically by customers seeking what you offer.

The Moz Beginner’s Guide to SEO is a wonderful resource that provides an easy-to-follow, in-depth tutorial on how search engines work and the fundamental strategies you should be implementing to ensure your website is search engine-friendly.

By incorporating the basics, you will provide your organization the opportunity to increase its visibility on search engines—translating to an increase in website visits and leads.

 

Optimize your website for users

Your website essentially functions as a 24/7/365 salesperson, so your content should clearly and effectively communicate who you are, how you can help a user solve their problem(s), and why they should choose you over the competition.

Creating compelling content is the first step. After that, you should focus on creating a seamless user experience—one that guides a visitor through the site in a logical and meaningful way. If your website is difficult to navigate, users may lose interest or get confused and move on. In addition, calls to action should be prevalent throughout the site, encouraging users to contact you, request a demo, download helpful resources, etc.

 

Pay per click advertising on search engines

If your site fails to appear on the first page of search engine results for certain keywords that are important to your brand, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on search engines may be an effective option to increase your brand visibility and generate new leads.

The most popular PPC platform, Google Ads, allows advertisers to bid on keywords relevant to their businesses. You are able to create your own unique text and image ads that will display on Google and its partner sites, and you only pay when someone clicks your ad.

PPC is an effective form of lead generation because the AdWords platform allows advertisers to refine their targeting strategy to reach very specific audiences. WordStream offers a PPC Beginner’s Guide to help you better understand how this medium works and they include strategies for creating effective PPC campaigns.

 

Remember, the only way a target will become a qualified lead is if they feel compelled to contact you based on the message you convey and if they can easily locate a means of reaching you. Incorporating these basic tactics into your marketing strategy can help connect your brand with your first customers.

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